Improvement in cut-nail machines



. D. J. FARMER. ssheetS--sh'eetz improvement in Cut-Nail and vTack Machines.

FiGf, FIG/1L Patented Aug. 22, 187i. Ll l" WITNESSESS.

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Improvement iin Cut-Nail and Tack Ma'chines.

No. 118,355,v FIGS' Patented Aug. 22,1871.

VVITNESSES. uNVaN-r-OR,

UNITED STATES DAVID J. FARMER, OF WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CUT-NAIL MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,355, dated August 22, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, DAVID J. FARMER, of Wheeling, in the county of Ohio and State of West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nail and Tack-Machines, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to a machine provided with two or more pairs of cutters arranged obliquely to each other, with their accompanying gripingdies, and headers, and suitable nippers, and gauges, by means of which appliances at each stroke of the machine or movement of the cutting-head two or more nails or tacks are cut and headed from a strip equal in width to the length of the nail, and allowing enough in excess for the head to be upset. The invention further consists in the arrangement in or upon a rotating head or table of any desirable number of non-rotating feeders, for conducting the plates to the cutters.

By means of these appliances I am enabled to cut and head nails or tacks from strips of sheet metal, two or more at each stroke of the machine, without turning the feeders or strips. Referring to the details of the invention, it further consists in mounting the rotary head or table on a pivot, and providing means for adjusting it toward or from the cutters; also, in mechanism for communicatin g an intermittent rotation to the feederhead or table from a continuously-moving shaft; also, in the employment of automatic gripingjaws or plates, so applied that they will release or yield to the nail-plates during the forward movement of the table, and will clamp them when the said forward movement is arrested; also, in mechanism for communicating an endwise movement to the feeders automatically from the rotary movement of the table.

Figure 1 is a side view of the machine with some of the feeders and their guiding-sockets omitted. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same with the upper part of the feed-table and the devices for actuating the feeders omitted. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the feed-table, showing the devices for rotating it and for advancing the feeders. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same, partly in section. Fig. 5 is a front View of a spring-box employed in connection with a stop to transmit intermittent motion from a continuously-rotating shaft. Fig. 6 is a front view of a cam movement employed to withdraw the said stop. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the feeders. Fig. 8 is a side view of the machine, illustrating a modiiication in the position of the feed-table. Fig. 9 is a side elevation, illustrating another modification in the position of the said table.

B B may represent various parts of the bed or frame of a nail or tack-machine, which I have not attempted to represent in complete form, but only so far as may be necessary to illustrate the action of the devices to which my invention essentially relates. C C are two pairs of cutters, set in a common oscillating frame, D, and arranged obliquely to each other, so that, as they act successively on the end of the same plate, the severed blanks will be tapered in opposite directions, in a manner well known and understood. Th ese cutters are each furnished with a gauge, c, projecting beyond their edges, and placed behind them in a proper position to determine the width of the nail or tack-blanks cut oif at each stroke. E represents the rotary head or table, carrying the feeders F, between which the nail-plates and feed-rods F slide within grooves g in the edges of said feeders or conductors F. The said head or table is journaled in a frame, R, pivoted at r to the stationary frame, and adjusted in position by means of a screw-rod, S, and head or nut s, so as to adjust the feeders to approach or recede from the cutters and headers. The construction of the feed-rods F is most clearly represented in Fig. 7. They are made with teeth or notches j' to aid in imparting the longitudinal feed movement, asy hereinafter described, with guidingplates or iianges f1, which are fitted to slide in sockets or grooves g in the feeders F, and with nippers f2 in their forward ends to hold the nailplates. Theintermittentrotary movement of the feeder-head or table E may be produced in various ways from a continuously-moving shaft, G, the intervals between the motions affording the necessary time for feeding the plate forward and severing the blanks. During this period the table is held by a detent, G1, fulcrumed at g1, pressed inward by a spring, G2, engaging insuccession with projections g2, which are arranged around the periphery of the table innumber correspond ing with the feeders. To permit the independent movement ofthe shaft, it is connected, through the medium of a spring, g3, with a sleeve, G3, on which is mounted a pinion, G4, gearing with cogs g4 on the periphery of the feed-table. When the blanks are severed and the table is to move again,

a cam, gs, on the shaft G, throws the detent G1- -is manifest that a similar effect is produced by forming the pinion7 as represented in dotted lines at G5 in Fig. 3, with four teeth, g5, occupying onethird the periphery.

ThisY segmental pinion, being fixed upon the continuously-movin g shaft G, will move the table the required distance while the teeth g5 are in gear, and will leave the table at rest long enough to afford time for the cutters to act. The spring g3 and detent g1 may thus be dispensed with. To impart the endwise or feed movement to the feed-rods F', l employ the mechanism represented in Fig. 4. The table E carries a wheel, e, having teeth which successively press back a lever, c1, and slide c2. Each time the said lever and slide are released from one of these teeth a spring, c3, forces them forward again, and this movement, through the medium of a pawl, e4, carried by the slide e2, and engaging in the notches j' of the feeder, moves and holds the latter with a moderate pressure against the knifegauge until the blank is severed. The next tooth of the wheel e then again forces back the slide c2, and releases it at the proper moment for the paw] to engage and advance the next feeder, so that each feeder as it is presented receives the requisite endwise movement. The machine being arranged to cut and form two nails or tacks at each stroke, the feed-rods are arranged in pairs, so that two nail-plates can be advanced simultaneously; but every plate is presented to each cutter in succession. The actual distance to which the feeders are moved is determined by the gauges c and thespring e3 permitting the parts to work together without violence, so that in practice the feedpawls need not act once to each cut. I is a hoop, extending around the periphery ofthe table, and serving as a brake to prevent its too rapid rotation. For this purpose it is formed with a lug, i, projecting between set-screws J J, by which it is controlled. This hoop-brake is described and claimed in my patent No. 113,644, dated the 11th of April, 1871. The forward movement of the table, by friction against the hoop I, detlects the spring-lug i, and the resilience of the latter imparts a slight reverse movement to the table, bringing it to the position in which it rests while the nail or tack-blanks are severed, when the brake gradually resumes its normal position. N N represent automatic clamp-plates-one for each cutter-which gripe the respective nail-plates when the cutis to be made. Their upper or movable jaws consist of plates notched orrecessed on their lower edges, and having oblique slots working on stationary studs or pins n a. n are springs, tending to press the plates N downward and backward. These parts are so constructed and arranged that the pressure of the nail-plates iu the forward movement of the table raises the clamppla-tes N, and the reverse movement above referred to, which immediately precedes the cut of the knives, will cause said clamp-plates to descend upon and gripe the nail-plates, or their springs and oblique slots will hold them firmly against vertical movement in the absence of any reverse movement of the table. O O represent the headers, actuated by levers P P through the medium of rods p p, and retracted by springs Q. The levers l? are arranged on the outside of the machine, on either side, so as to afford ready access to them for any purpose. T is the customary guard-plate oiiiangc, against which then ends of the nail-plates rest in their revolution, a gap or recess in the said plate permitting the plates to pass to the cutters at the proper time. The guardflange is described and claimed in my patent No. 103,730, dated the 31st day of .May, 187 0. U U representthe clam pin g-dies, which hold and press the blanks while under the action of the headers O O. The moving members of these dies are mounted in a pivoted frame or lever, V, which is actuated from the main cam-shaft. V

The plates are cut of a width corresponding with the length of blanks for the required nails or tacks, and their rear ends having been inserted in the nippers f2, the said nail or tack-plates, with the feed-rods F attached, are inserted between the feeders F and passed forward until stopped by the guard-flange T, o'r, in the case of the nail or tack-plates opposite the cutters, by the customary knife-gauges, which determine the width of blanks to be severed. The edges of the plates also rest against gauges, as described in my patent No. 103,730, hereinbefore referred to, a-nd they are held by the clamp-plates Nbearing upon them. The machine being then set in motion, the blanks are severed, and the plates from which they have been cut being carried edgewise against the shoulders of the plates N, cause the said plates to rise by reason of the Obliquity of their attaching slots. As soon as' the rotation of the table ceases the clamp-plates are pressed down on the next nailplates, and blanks are out from them 'in like manner. It will be observed that, the table being moved the distance of one feeder at each stroke, the plate which at one stroke is fed to the rst cutter C is at the next fed to the second cutter Cf, which is set obliquely to the first, as already explained. An endwise movement` is imparted to each feed-rod F as it approaches either cutter. Two blanks are thus severed at each stroke, the said blanks being point to point. They are then caught by the dies U, and their projecting wide ends are upset by the headers O, completing a nail or tack of whatever kind the machinery may be made to produce. When the forward rotary movement is resumed the clamp-plates N N rise automatically, permitting the plates to pass beneath them and immediately fall again, so that the clamp-plate, which griped the nail-plate while under the action of one cutter, may form the edgegauge, against which the nail-plate is moved backward for the next cut. The endwise movement imparted to the nail-plate at the instant when it escapes from the guard-plate or flange and is caught by the end gauge beneath the cutters, and the reverse movement of the table, which immediately succeeds, enable me to employ a stationary edge-gauge, which will allow the nail-plates to pass edgewise from the cutters. The obliquity of the slots by which the clamp-plates N N are attached causes the said clamp-plates to be elevated by a forward pressure of the nail-plates, and to rmly resist an upward pressure of the nail-plates when the head or table is not revolving forward. As soon as the table stops, the springs n above the clamp-plates N N are thus permitted to press the said clamp-plates down upon the nail-plates, and any vertical deiiection of the latter is then prevented by the obliquity of their attaching slots 5 but as soon as the blank has been severed, and the forward rotation of the head or table is resumed, the edgewise pressure of the nail-plates aga-inst the clamp-plates easily raises the latter on their attaching pins n until the lower edge of the plate N or N is above the level of the nail-plate, permitting the latter to pass freely beneath it.

I claim as my invention@ l. The combination of the two or more sets of cutters arranged obliquely to each other, two or more sets of griping-dies, two or more headers, the intermittently-rotating head or table E, the series of feedersor conductors F non-rotating relatively to the said table, and any suitable means for advancing the nail-plates through or between said feeders or conductors, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination of the feed-table or head E with the pivoted frame R, and the screw and nut S s for adjusting the said table to or from the cutters, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the intermittently-rotating head or table E, the continuously-rotating shaft A', the transmitting mechanism G3 G4, and stoppingand releasing mechanism G1 G2 gf", substantially as set forth.

4. The automatic griping device N, constructed and applied substantially as described, in combination with the cutters C and any suitable device for feeding the nail-plates to said cutters, for the purposes set forth.

5. The arrangement ofthe sectional feeders or conductors F, grooved at their edges on the periphery of the revolving' head or table E, to which they are permanently attached, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

6. The lever e1, slide e2, pawl e4, and cam-wheel I e, in combination with the notchedv feed-rod F',

substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

DAVID J. FARMER.

Witnesses:

JOHN P. FARMER, SAMUEL FARMER. 

